Sony Pictures Classics announced today that they will release Louis Clichy’s IRON BOY in New York and Los Angeles on January 22, 2027, with an awards-qualifying run in December. The film received critical acclaim following its premiere in the Un Certain Regard section at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Special Jury Prize for its stunning combination of realism and fantasy. The film went on to win the Audience, Jury and Distribution Awards at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and has been selected to screen at the Toronto and New York film festivals.

The film is co-written by Clichy and Franck Salomé, and marks Clichy’s first film as a solo director. After many years devoted to 3D animation at Pixar where he worked as an animator on WALL-E and UP, the film presents a highly personal style, characterized by ink line drawing that returns to the spirit of Manga and his early short films. 

The film follows 11-year-old Christophe in rural France, as he tries to live up to his rigid and distant father on the family farm. But the young boy starts to lean over and collapse without warning — on the tractor, at school, at dinner… A doctor finds the solution: Christophe must wear an iron corset to keep himself upright. Forced to reinvent his life away from the farm, Christophe discovers a new passion for music, meets a new friend, and follows her into his first mischief. But will any of this really fix what is out of balance? 

The voice cast includes Gary Clichy, Rod Paradot (STANDING TALL), Brune Moulin, Dimitri Colas, Aurélie Vassort, Alexandre Astier (KAAMELOTT) and Jean-Pascal Zadi (DOG ON TRIAL) with animation by Chloë Aubert and art direction by Cécile Guillard. The film is produced by Céline Vanlint and Nicolas de Rosanbo for Eddy Cinéma (France) and co-produced by Fabrice Delville and Christophe Toulemonde for Beside Production (Belgium), Agathe Sofer and Alexandre Astier for Regular Production (France) along with France 3 Cinéma, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Cinéma and RTBF. SPC acquired the film from Playtime, the international sales company that is part of Vuelta.